Pits and Peaks This Week

Here I’ll continue my new Pits and Peaks series, where I catalogue the wins and losses each week on our frugal living journey toward taking our van trip and eventually achieving financial freedom.

It’s been a roller-coaster of a week, that’s for sure. Saturday we went to the Women’s March in LA, Sunday I ran in the Pasadena Half Marathon (in the rain, no less!), and the whole week has been busy, busy, busy at work.

Cold, wet, and in pain after 13.1 miles. At least the shirt and medal were cool!

Pits

The whole political situation is terrifying, and it’s psyching me out regarding saving. What if everything just goes belly-up and our savings aren’t worth anything? What if there aren’t any National Parks to go visit by the time we finally save up? I’m trying to keep my eye on the prize, but it’s definitely tough. I guess that’s not a concrete “pit” per se, but it’s a thought.

We did pretty well this week in terms of money, but I did buy some food at Trader Joe’s after the marathon that I didn’t end up finishing (eyes were bigger than my stomach, y’all) and I would consider that a loss. Sorry world, I’ll do better next time!

Also, I had a monthly membership that was costing me $15/month and I wasn’t using at all. I decided to cancel, but there was a $100 cancellation fee for canceling before the contract was over. I did the math, and saved myself $5 by just paying the cancellation fee and canceling now. It was a hit, but now I don’t have that subscription to worry about anymore.

Peaks

Was it worth it? Feeling the post-race pain.

We didn’t eat out this week, not once! Eating out is our biggest frugal sin, and our greatest temptation. But we didn’t do it! We shopped our shop at Aldi and Vons and we cooked delicious meals and enjoyed them at home. Anna made a killer Thai curry the other night that was as excellent as leftovers as it was fresh.

Also, Anna switched her car insurance over to reflect the fact that she moved to CA from RI (almost 2 years ago…but you know…) and she got a lower rate! That means we’ll be saving money every month. Eliminating or lowering those repeated expenses is the key to slimming down your spending.

Looking ahead, it’s going to be a tough weekend to stick to those frugal guns, because I have a friend visiting from out of town for the weekend and I know at least one or two meals or drinks out occasions will be coming up. I’m going to try to optimize my luxuries as much as possible, though! Tune in next week to see how it goes.